David
Leitch's first solo directorial film Atomic Blonde would have been a failure
had he not cast Charlize Theron as Lorraine Broughton. John Wick's success gave
a clue about what to expect from David Leitch, being privileged to have a large
audience ready to consume anything served at them: wrapped infancy,
choreographed action, etc. Most of the films 'look good' these days. Atomic Blonde
still stand out, its colour palette is diverse, its luminance striking, the
unrestrained camera movement dreamy and overall production exuding brandished indulgence.

David
Leitch tries everything at his disposal to compensate for the brevity of action
sequences--starting with an interesting story, followed by snappy and crisp
dialogues spoken by badass characters; Jonathan Sela, the cinematographer is successful
to make it look visually captivating, blood and splitting action with the
supercool 80s music to complement the extravagant frames. Indeed he is
successful to make Atomic Blonde not get too caught up in self-admiration of
its brilliantly choreographed action sequences, but it is held back by
characters which are hard to empathize with. Moreover, they are too smug to be
weak, they are better off without our sympathy. It's not really David Leitch's
fault. It's rather ours that we tend to raise our expectation when a film
starts off so well in all departments. To expect more from a film made solely
for the purpose of cheap thrills will prevent you from enjoying whatever the
thrill Atomic Blonde has to offer.

I could
take Atomic Blonde for thirty minutes more if it were to be more affectionate
and considerate of its characters. It feels as if Atomic Blonde uses all what
is good about it as a means instead of end (Yes there is a peculiar dialogue on
the same Kantian Maxim.) Everything is subordinate to the action sequences
while the film's premise pretends suggests otherwise. Charlize Theron and James
McAvoy have injected life in the curious but one-dimensional characters. Theron
is cool, seductive, pensive, dismissive and fierce and her performance pervades
the thin skin of her character and her stark talent is visible as the intensity
eats through the facade.

The
unnecessarily convoluted story fools us into thinking of Atomic Blonde as a
smashing spy thriller which turns out be nothing but an ostentatious action
film. It sets out to improve upon John Wick but it fails understandably so as
it couldn't afford go beyond the surface of 'spy' setup which would have
increased the drama at the expense of action.

There is a
very, very long take (for an action sequence), handheld shot, where Lorraine knocks
over a dozen man which also includes hand-to-hand combat. It is just as good as
ones we saw in John Wick, this time it looks more real because of the handheld
long take and Lorraine taking on 2-3 men at once rather than the whole unit
which looks great but choreographed, like an intense action crescendo. It is
immediately followed by Lorraine and Spyglass running away and I literally
jumped from my seat when A Flock Of Seagulls' 'I Ran' started in the background.
The decision to use 80s music blended with neon tones gives a svelte feel to
Atomic Blonde which is its redeeming feature.

Tyler Bates's music makes the characters look effortlessly smug even
when they blankly stare. In terms of technical execution David Leitch has come
a long way since John Wick. Kurt Johnstad's screenplay wasn’t the most
expedient choice to conceive David Leitch's vision, which seems incompatible
when compared to John Wick which owed its success to a simple-no-rubbish-setup.
Atomic Blonde somewhere misses out on that aspect due to its screenplay which
feels pretentious and incompatible at the hands of David Leitch. Yet, the film
is miraculously salvaged by a glorious performance by Charlize Theron--the
Atomic Blonde at the centre receiving generous support by the rest of the cast.
The music and visuals shine as well to serve an entertaining action frenzy.
Fans of the genre shouldn't give Atomic Blonde a miss.Rating: 6/10Readers, please feel free to share your opinion by leaving your comments. As always your valuable thoughts are highly appreciated!

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Murtaza Ali Khan is an independent film critic / journalist based out of New Delhi, India. He has been writing on cinema for over seven years. He runs the award-winning entertainment blog A Potpourri of Vestiges. He is also the Films Editor at the New York City-based publication Cafe Dissensus and regularly contributes to The Hindu and The Sunday Guardian. He was previously a columnist at Huff Post. He has also contributed to publications like DailyO, Newslaundry, The Quint, Dear Cinema, Desimartini and Jamuura Blog. He regularly appears as a guest panelist on the various television channels and is also associated with radio.